On using 3D animation for teaching computer programming in Cairo University

In Egypt and in many developing countries, there is a high level of unemployment among youth with high and middle diplomas but with limited IT and computer programming skills or with limited ability to readjust to market changes and new work requirements. This is sometimes attributed to a psychological barrier (e.g., fear or intimidation) to IT and computer programming. In this paper, we study the impact of a novel teaching method, namely the Alice 3D learning environment, proposed elsewhere for teaching computer programming concepts to novice users in an easy and attractive way. We conducted an experiment to measure the effectiveness of Alice by using it to teach programming concepts to first-level students in the Faculty of Computers and Information, Cairo University in the academic year 2008-2009. This was done before introducing them to a high-level language. We then conducted a survey to measure the level of acceptance and benefit attained by the target students. The most important result of our study is that learning with Alice was a beneficial experience to students who have first-time exposure to computer programming. However, Alice was boring to students who have previous programming background. To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first of its kind in Egypt as Alice was not taught before here, and we hope that our study helps the adoption decisions of Alice or similar tools in other schools and universities.